Kimberly Potowski

I had a great time talking with Micki Leventhal at my university. http://atlas.las.uic.edu/atlas/2012/12/innovating-heritage-language-teaching

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The Instituto Cervantes has created a marvellous website where they've uploaded numerous video conferences about various issues related to the teaching of Spanish.  My discussion with Dr. Ofelia García is available at  http://comprofes.es/videocomunicaciones/la-ense%C3%B1anza-de-la-lengua-espa%C3%B1ola-en-los-estados-unidos 

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Conversaciones escritas is a Spanish composition textbook for heritage speakers and advanced L2 learners.  I am particularly proud of it, as it results from about 12 years of working with wonderful bilingual students in Chicago. Check out the Wiley website for more information.

I'm pleased to report that an edited volume I began in March 2007 has finally been published. The title is Language Diversity in the USA and it is published by Cambridge University Press. It profiles the twelve most commonly used languages other than English, painting a portrait of the history, current demographics, community characteristics, economic status, and language maintenance of each language group, and looks ahead to the future of each language.

Is the term "Spanglish" a positive one, or does it reflect and create harmful connotations? At the 22nd conference on Spanish in the United States (Feburary 2009, Coral Gables, FL), professors Ana Celia Zentella and Ricardo Otheguy were invited to publicly debate this topic. They generously agreed to allow filming of the debate. On this webpage you'll find a complete transcription in Spanish and a summary in English.

The Enciclopedia del español en los Estados Unidos (2009, Santillana) is now out. It offers:

"A detailed analysis of the past, present, and future of Spanish and Hispanic culture in the U.S., highlighting the demolinguistic reality of the diverse Spanish-speaking groups living in the U.S. Attention is also drawn to the vast cultural wealth of the Hispanic community, which has driven artistic creations that today hold a preeminent position in the country's cultural landscape."

There are over 80 specialized articles covering historical, demographic, and linguistic analyses. I made contributions on codeswitching (with Carmen Silva-Corvalán) as well as an entry about mixed ethnicity Latinos. This page includes recent press about the Enciclopedia del español en los Estados Unidos.

We live in a time when many U.S. residents harbor "English only" sentiments -- that is, to be considered a good citizen you have to speak English and also stop speaking anything else. Multilingual Chicago is a grassroots organization I belong to that seeks to counter such linguistic hegemony by promoting linguistic diversity in our city, both that brought by immigrants and their descendants as well as by English speakers studying other languages. In 2007, Mayor Daley signed a resolution brought forth by the efforts of this group.